Zou Liangqi EMOTIONAL MARKETING FOR CHINESE WOMEN

Zou Liangqi EMOTIONAL MARKETING FOR CHINESE WOMEN

EMOTIONAL MARKETING FOR CHINESE WOMEN Zou Liangqi Thesis Autumn 2017 Business Information Technology Oulu University of Applied Sciences

ABSTRACT Oulu University of Applied Sciences Business Information Technology Author: Zou Liangqi Title of Bachelor s thesis: Emotional marketing for Chinese Women Supervisor: Minna Kamula Term and year of completion: Autumn 2017 Number of pages: 33 + appendix With the development of social economy, people's consumption level has improved; the level of consumption has changed from the initial demand for the basic functions to the pursuit of added value, which contributed to emotional marketing. Emotional marketing is the combination of personal emotion and product marketing to meet the emotional needs of consumers. In the 21st century, women have occupied an increasingly important position in social life. With the improving of women s economic status and family status, 21st century has become the dominant era of female consumption. Females have become the main motive force for the development of the market. The purpose of this thesis is to help find some emotional marketing strategies of clothing. Shop owners are concerned with women s consumer behavior and psychological characteristics, so emotional marketing is more used with female consumers. By analyzing female consumer behavior and consumer psychology, combined with the theory of emotional marketing, the intention is to help shop owners find emotional marketing strategies. There is an interview and a questionnaire in the thesis. In the interview, a shop owner told women caring about when their buying clothes and some strategies that she had. Women s buying behavior and their emotion has been asked in the questionnaire. From the questionnaire, the main result is different ages consumers have different shopping psychological characteristics and emotion. Therefore, the research of this article has important significance to the female consumption market. Keywords: emotional marketing, consumer behavior, psychological characteristics 3

CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION... 5 2 CONSUMPTION AMONG WOMEN... 6 2.1 Situation of female consumption... 6 2.2 Consumer psychology... 7 2.3 Psychological characteristics... 8 3 CLOTHING AND EMOTION... 11 3.1 Analysis on the consumption demand for women's clothing... 11 3.2 Clothing and emotional factors... 13 3.2.1 Nostalgic emotion... 13 3.2.2 Extended individuality... 14 3.2.3 Color emotion... 15 4 SHOP OWNER INTERVIEW AND HER STRATEGIES... 16 5 FEMALE CUSTOMERS QUESTIONNAIRE... 19 5.1 Methodology... 19 5.2 Result... 19 6 CONCLUSION... 28 7 DISCUSSION... 29 8 REFERENCES... 30 APPENDICES... 34 4

1 INTRODUCTION With the development of social economy, people's living standards have improved continuously; the demand for consumption is also growing. The original marketing model has been unable to meet the needs of consumers; more people want to have spiritual enjoyment (Xue 2005, cited 30.09.2005). Nowadays women have a higher income, independent personality, ahead of the consumer attitudes and freedom of choices; therefore, they may become the consumer direction in the future (Aliker 2011, cited 10.03.2011). Emotional marketing is based on the consumer's emotional needs to arouse the emotional needs of consumers (Yebudianyu 2017, cited 25.06.2017). The purpose of this thesis is to find some emotional marketing strategies of clothing. By analyzing female consumer behavior and psychological characteristics of clothing consumption, the idea is to understand the psychological characteristics of women's consumption and the application of emotional marketing in clothing marketing. The theory part comprises women's consumption behavior, psychological characteristics, women's clothing consumer needs and clothing with emotional factors. The research part is consisted of an interview and a questionnaire. With the help of the interview and questionnaire, the role of emotional marketing in women s clothing marketing can be studied. 5

2 CONSUMPTION AMONG WOMEN 2.1 Situation of female consumption In the 21st century, the living standard of people has continuously improved and the material standard of life has become rich. The way of life and consumption also progress with the development of society. Nowadays, consumer market and people s consumer awareness in China have gradually walked into advanced ranks. The consumption structure has also undergone a huge change. The form of people s consumption has changed from singleness and repetition to diversification and richness. The sixth national census data shows that in 2010 Chinese employed female from 15 to 64 years old has 490 million, which the employment rate is 69.9%, compared with 2000, a net increase is 64.63 million (Hui 2013, cited 06.03.2013). With the rising of female employment rate in China and the improvement of women's education level, the role of women in society has considerably improved. According to the third census, China's female consumers have 480 million, which is 48.7% of the whole population. Female consumers are not only large but they also play a particularly important role in the purchasing activities. On the one hand, they are the manufactures of their own purchases. On the other hand, they for example are mothers, daughters, wives and housewives in the family (Fine 204 2016, cited 28.05.2016). They often decide about the daily consumption of the family. Mintel s study (figure 1) shows that 58% of Chinese mothers have full control of family finance (Women s Federation of Daqing City 2015, cited 20.11.2015). Consequently, it can be seen women have an important role in the development of the consumer market and in the growth of China. 6

FIGURE 1. Modified from Women's Strength in "China s Consumer Trends in 2016" (Women s Federation of Daqing City 2015, cited 20.11.2015) The female consumer has become the dominant group of the consumer market in China. With the progress of society, the development of the times and the improvement of consumer trends, female consumers are the main driving force for the development of the consumer market. 2.2 Consumer psychology Consumer psychology is a kind of psychological activity when consumers look for, choose, buy, use, evaluate and dispose of products and services. Consumption behavior is governed by consumer psychology. The process of consumer psychology refers to the psychological activity and dynamic process of consumers in the purchasing activities process. It mainly includes the process of cognition, emotion and will, and these processes are reflected in each specific consumption activity (Shijiuyi 2016, cited 29.08.2016). The cognitive process, the emotional process and the will process of the psychological activities of the consumers are unified, and they are closely linked. Cognitive process is the first stage of the consumer's psychological process and the basis of other psychological processes. People's cognitive processes are mainly the human feeling, perception, attention, thinking, imagination and other psychological activities (Chunxia 2013, cited 30.08.2013). 7

The first impression of buying is the feeling that people could watch from all aspects of products to form a preliminary impression. When the consumers choose products, the information they have in their mind will be analyzed and compared. Imagination means that consumers imagine how elegant and fashionable they are when they wear this cloth. The consumer s process of emotion includes mood and emotional aspects. Mood refers to an experience in a short period of time. Emotion is a stable experience for a long period of time (Ndonaghy 2011, cited 27.10.2011). People's emotions are always reflected on the changing moods. For example, a company has good quality products, high credibility, and a good image in consumers eyes; consumers have a sense of trust. When a consumer buy a certain company s product, it will bring joy and satisfaction for the customer. Consumers experience the cognitive process and emotional process, whether to take a purchase action has to rely on the will process of consumer psychology (Ndonaghy 2011, cited 27.10.2011). The will process of consumer is in the purchase activities the consumer has purpose, consciously dominate and adjust their actions to overcome the difficulties, to achieve the purchase of the psychological process (Chunxia 2013, cited 30.08.2013). 2.3 Psychological characteristics Female consumer psychology refers to the female consumers carrying out the psychological characteristics and psychological activities when they have consumer activities (Shijiuyi 2016, cited 29.08.2016). Female consumers are inclined to personalized consumption; it means female consumers can follow their own ways to show their beauty (Huixiang 2013, 1). In general, women are considered to be most beautiful; they have rich and delicate emotions, good communication and they pay attention to their appearance. There are a series of psychological characteristics of women, which determine the performance of women in the consumption activities. They have their own unique psychological characteristics of consumption. Their consumer behavior is influenced by consumer psychology (Jing, Youfang, Hui, Qing, Zhengdong, Wenhua, Hongqing, Wenjuan, Aobing & Rongheng 2008, 20). 8

Truth seeking Although people's living standards have greatly improved, the majority of buyers first focus of the purchase are products quality, performance and price (Zhengkun, Shuanggui, Zhihui & Wenbin 2016, 11-12). When people buy a product, this product represents their most basic needs. The premise of purchase is that the product must be practical. Because women play a variety of roles in society, in the family they are wives and mothers, they undertake most of the family consumption. Women have traditional habits such as thrift and careful planning (Tujintakeshu 2013, cited 18.12.2013), they will pay special attention to the practicality of goods and show a strong pragmatic approach in the purchase of products. Based on this psychology, they are willing to touch the facts, rather than stay in the feeling and fantasy. This kind of purchase requires self-approval (Zhengkun et al. 2016, 12). It is rational consumption (Jing et al. 2008, 21). Fashion and beauty There is an old Chinese saying, Everyone has a heart of beauty (Luonaoerduo 2016, cited 24.01.2016), and it is especially true with women. In modern women s psychology, fashion is almost inseparable from beauty, and the psychology of beauty is ubiquitous. When women buy products, they really pay attention to the packaging of products, design, color, etc.; they like fashionable and the most popular products, which products will bring them a pleasant mood. Most of the modern women think fashion is beautiful (Fengling 2009, 59), so the fashion products will attract their eyes. For example, in the purchasing of clothes, women will choose the current popular clothing, whether it be color, fabric or style, because these products will make them happy, and easily cause their buying desires. Comparisons Comparative psychology is used a lot in modern life. With the improvement of women s income level, they like to compete with others in life, they always want to live better, more comfortable and care more about "what you have I have to have" (Zhengkun et al. 2016, 12). Hence, when they are in the consumption process, not only they purchase to satisfy their basic needs, but also pursuit of more high-end, higher prices, better quality branded products. In order to show their superior social status and economic conditions, they decorate themselves more fashionable and more beautiful than others. From the comparative psychology, it can be seen the consumers want to achieve social identity (Zhengkun et al. 2016, 12), but this kind of consumer psychology could be unhealthy (Jing et al. 2008, 20). 9

Impulse In general, women are more likely to involve themselves with more impulsive consumption than men (Yanzhicaijing 2017, cited 13.07.2017). This applies to individual and family consumption. They can show impulsive and irrational buying behaviors. Impulsive consumption refers to buying where is no target and it is not planned purchasing behavior (Xiaodaiqiqiqi 2015, cited 26.11.2015). When women consume, they are influenced by advertising, promotional activities or friends, sales staff s recommendations; women are susceptible to external environmental impact thus involving a emotional consumption. Based on an article Men and women who are more defeated (http://www.sohu.com/a/156842302_509988, cited 13.07.2017), we could see the idea of women s buying behavior. There are ten without reason reasons they need for buying behavior: 1. Beautiful 2. Limited edition 3. Paid by the boyfriend 4. This color I do not have 5. These stripes are smaller than I bought before 6. This flatter is bigger than before I bought 7. Not nice but very special 8. Never seen before 9. There is a voice in my heart 10. Not useful but feels good to buy it As regards to shopping behavior, men and women are totally different. Men tend to be rational, but women tend to be emotional. Women s sensibility is often reflected on the shopping; they believe more their own eyes and feelings (Yanzhicaijing 2017, cited 13.07.2017). 10

3 CLOTHING AND EMOTION 3.1 Analysis on the consumption demand for women's clothing With the social development, the proportion of female consumer groups is growing. Figure 2 shows that in 2016 female consumers have occupied 58% of the whole consumers. Gender of Consumers Male 42 % Female 58 % FIGURE 2. Modified from The gender of consumers (2016 domestic consumer group users insight, cited 2016) Women's clothing consumption is more active than men's, and the market is broader. Euromonitor data displays that in 2016 Chinese women's clothing market share was 872.8 billion (about 111.9 billion euros), with an annual growth of 5%. It is expected that the market size in 2021 will reach 963.2 billion (about 123.6 billion euros). In 2016, the size of the Chinese men's clothing market was 513.1 billion (about 65.8 billion euros); the annual growth is 4%. It is expected that the market share in 2021 will reach 551.5 billion (about 70.7 billion euros) (HKTDC research 2017, cited 27.09.2017). Gender awareness of adult women over 18 years has gradually strengthened. During economic growth, Chinese women get more independence and have more and more social roles. They are able to express themselves by clothes and get recognition by the style. Different seasons, environments, cultural levels, aesthetic concepts, and the popular consciousness determine their different clothing consumption behavior (Hong & Guolian 2002, 64). In addition to basic functions, 11

clothing s beauty function has gained more attention. Sometimes the beauty of the clothing function goes beyond the other functions especially for the female consumers. Modern women's clothing consumption is not only to meet the basic needs to protect from cold or hot weather conditions but also to meet the aesthetic, self-realization and other psychological needs. There are four demand levels for women s clothing. 1. To protect the basic needs of the body, which is the most basic function of clothing. With the development and progress of human civilization, clothing becomes a daily necessity of human life (Hongshancheng 2012, cited 09.01.2012). 2. To meet the needs of aesthetics. After satisfying the most basic needs, women begin to pursue beauty and different aesthetic concepts are formed in their mind. 3. To esteem needs. The esteem need is an important social need for mankind. In social life, everyone wants to have their own stable social status: they want their abilities and achievements to be socially recognized. Therefore women are increasingly keen on the pursuit of brand clothing. The pursuit of brand clothing reflects their economic strength and highlights their taste and social status, to meet their esteem needs (Flyingship 2016, cited 22.09.2016). 4. The demand of self-actualization. This is the highest level of need in the hierarchy of people (Flyingship 2016, cited 22.09.2016). In the clothing consumption, women often choose personal, and creative clothing to distinguish themselves from others, to meet their unique psychological needs. People's needs are often different in different periods. When people's living standards are very low, people's needs are also on a low level. With the progress of society and the improvement of living standards, people tend to pursue the material life and spiritual life, and the need reaches a higher level (Flyingship 2016, cited 22.09.2016). In the clothing consumption, the needs of all levels are interdependent. In the same period, there may be a variety of needs. When clothing consumption meets the basic needs, women begin to pursue its aesthetic sense on a higher level (Hotmouse 2012, cited 07.11.2012). 12

3.2 Clothing and emotional factors People design clothing, and people have emotions, so the design process in the clothing is injected into the designer's emotions. At the same time clothing is also an art form, an expression of art that is the expression of human emotions, so clothing and human emotions are closely related. Clothing could not only bring out the person s character, but it also shows the feelings of people. According to a survey by the University of Queensland in Australia, women like to associate emotion with clothing, and through the feeling of wearing a better clothing, their mood is enhanced. On the other hand, people also use clothing to cover up their true feelings (Admin 2011, cited 25.11.2011). 3.2.1 Nostalgic emotion Although some clothes are out of style, there are still people who wear them. These clothes are not just clothes but also cultural artefacts, with a special meaning. For example in the Republic of China era, Chinese cheongsam became popular. This clothing style uses straight lines, garment body loose, both open fork, chest waist size and dress size ratio is more close to (Figure 4). Cheongsam became a symbol of female beauty at that time. In today s developed economy, cheongsam is out of style, but some people like to wear them. People have nostalgic emotional needs, when they wear cheongsam they could realize the beauty of women from that era. 13

FIGURE 4. Yang Mi (Cheongsam 2016, cited 19.10.2016) 3.2.2 Extended individuality In the modern life, everyone has their own aesthetic, especially pursuit their own unique personality, which appears to be different. In order to highlight their own personality, people usually use clothes to show their own. A different dress style embodies a person's character, and is also the pursuit of free life. Highlighting personality is a psychological need of people. Feelings related to clothing is also closely related to people's lives. In addition to all kinds of creative design and exquisite tailoring, a wide variety of colors will also bring clothing the overall shape of endless fun (Ping 2014, cited 08.08.2014). For example, a contrast color, which is matching differ greatly colors has a visual impact, and contrast color become a symbol of the trend instantly (Aimeiwang 2016, cited 19.01.2016). 14

3.2.3 Color emotion In the clothing culture, clothing styles, colors and fabrics constitute the three elements of design clothing. Color is the first impression of clothing (Guangzhou City Beauty clothing vocational training college 2017, cited 11.08.2017). Famous French fashion designer Pierre Cardin said that "When designing the most attention is on color" (Lei & Ying 2008, cited 17.06.2008). Color is one of the important ways to express the form of clothing; it is an important carrier of clothing emotion, which is often regarded as the soul of clothing beauty (Shishangnvzhuang 2012, cited 04.09.2012). Each color has its own unique character traits; different colors will give people different psychological feelings. In conveying the psychological feelings, the colors have symbolic meanings. For example, red symbolizes passion and danger, blue symbolizes broad and sensibility, and orange symbolizes warmth and positiveness. Clothing color is the most direct impression of clothing; it has a very strong attraction (Guangzhoufuzhuangpifa 2011, cited 17.03.2011). Usually in summer, people wear light colors; in autumn, people choose deeper color; Black, white and gray colors are very suitable for winter wearing (Yezi 2013, cited 14.10.2013). 15

4 SHOP OWNER INTERVIEW AND HER STRATEGIES I had an interview with Huang Xu who is a shop owner. The interview was conducted via Wechat in 09.10.2017, and the interview was recorded. She is my sister s friend, and she was very willing to accept my interview. She hoped to get some helpful information for her shop. Her shop is called Yilian which means missing clothes. Yilian mainly sells female clothing; it also sells female accessories like bags and shoes. Two main questions were asked: What factors do women have when buying clothes? What strategies do you have? In Xu s answer she mentioned five factors, which her customers care about. First, women pay attention to external beauty. They are easily attracted by the appearance of the product. They love many things, sometimes they do not care about the usage, but the beautiful shape. This is related to the way women think. Women consumers like choosing product by feeling. Therefore, the appearance of clothing, style, color, and packaging could affect their decision. She also said that women are affected by the word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth communication channel is one of the most influential channels of communication for women's consumption behavior, especially friends recommendations. Buying often leads to infectious consumption, someone wants to buy similar clothes as friends have bought. Third, women pay more attention to product details than men. They often want the coat, shoes, small jewelry, underwear, and even nightdresses, have perfect details. She mentioned that, women pursue quality of life. Nowadays, women s economies have become independent and their social status is also improving and they understand and affirm self-worth. While working actively and taking care of the family, they enjoy life and pay attention to the quality of life. Sometimes they feel the pressure, and consumption is one of the ways they think that they could release the stress. The last point is the experience of consumption. The fun of shopping is very important for women, and sometimes even more important than product itself. Shopping is a stress release and relaxation activity. Women also want to buy beautiful clothes to show their beauty. In the shopping 16

environment they also have some requirements. An important requirement is traffic convenience. They prefer shopping in a shopping mall with comfortable environment and set food, entertainment and other functions. They like beautiful fitment, user-friendly design and shops with good customer service, she said. Xu also has some strategies for her customers. She analyzed strategies in three aspects: product, price and channel. In product part, there are three points to attract customers. In the last question, we know people pay attention to the external beauty of clothes, so I will focus on the fashion elements. Clothing fashion is an eternal theme. Every year there are different fashion elements. In the design of women's clothing, I will put popular elements into the clothes to meet the beauty of women's relentless pursuit. The second one is overall match. Clothing could show the taste of women, but the matching products with the overall design cannot be ignored. Clothing business is important, but the color, style match with the belt or bag are also very important. This marketing program not only improves the competitiveness of products, but also brings better economic benefits. The third point is to highlight personality. With the improvement of people's quality of life and the concepts of change, people have changed the identical aesthetic orientation, to the individual expression. Everyone's body, skin color, temperament are not the same and the working environment and atmosphere are also different. Therefore, women will have different requirements on clothing style, color, materials and other aspects; they want to find the most suitable clothes for themselves. In order to achieve the individual clothing, we will continue to design new varieties and new styles, she said. There are three types of prices. First one is skimming the pricing strategy. When the product comes into the market to with high price strategy, it will obtain high profits in a short time. There is a part of women with high taste. They are also sensitive about the trends of fashion and their requirements for clothing are higher. At this point the price is not important for them. Then there is penetration price. Shop owners set the product price relatively low to attract a large number of customers, which could increase market share. The last one is very common, i.e. discount price. Shop owners use various discounts to attract consumers to prompt them to buy products actively. This could speed up product turnover, expand sales and improve market share, she said. The last aspect is the channel. She doesn t have an online shop yet, but she wants to develop it next years. Now in China the web has gone deep into our lives, so now online shopping is the bottleneck of my shop. Later I can use also nline sale. Internet marketing is a new method and 17

concept of implementation of marketing campaigns that can more effectively contribute between personal and our communication. Online shopping has become a new important channel for women to buy clothes. Online shopping allows women to have a greater freedom of choice, and the price will be cheaper. By using online selling, I can directly account and analyze clothing sales data, I could still access to consumer feedback through consumers comments, and then I adjust product mix timely, improve marketing efficiency. I will do the online sale in the next year, she said. 18

5 FEMALE CUSTOMERS QUESTIONNAIRE 5.1 Methodology The population, from which the sample was drawn, consisted of Chinese women. The questionnaire was sent to 200 people and 67 replies were received. The sample size was 67 in total. All the respondents were anonymous. From this survey, the purpose was to find the women buying clothing behavior, so the samples are all women, but from different ages (18-over 45). Cluster-sampling method was used because it is an easy way. Questionnaire was done by Wechat to respond, which is made with online survey and analysis is done by software Webropol. The questionnaire was included 10 questions (Appendix), and all of them are the closed question. 5.2 Result First question asked respondents age. Among all the respondents, age between 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 have occupied more than half of the respondents, 13 respondents were from 35 to 44 age group, and 8 respondents age were over 45. The figure 5 below shows the number of the respondents age. FIGURE 5. Respondents age (n = 67) 19

In the next question, it was asked about respondents monthly income. 24% of the respondents income was less than 3000 (about 375 ), more than half 61% of respondents income from 3001 to 7000 (about 375.1 to 875 ), 5% of them income was from 7001 to 10000 (about 875.1 to 1250 ), 10% of the respondents income over 10001 (about 1250.1 ). Figure 6 shows the percentage of respondents monthly income. FIGURE 6. Respondents monthly income (n = 67) From figure 7, it can be found out that 30% of respondents buy clothes several times per month, 31% of respondents once a month; 33% of respondents less than once per month. Only 3% of respondents buy clothes several times per week, and only 3% of them buy clothes once a week. There are no respondents who would buy clothes every day. FIGURE 7. How often do you buy clothes? (n = 67) 20

According to the results, concerning the money spent on clothes, most of respondents spent less than 1000 (about 125 ) on clothes monthly. 34% respondents spent 1000 to 3000 (about 125.1 to 375 ) on clothes monthly, only 9% respondents spent 3001 to 5000 (about 375.1 to 625 ) on clothes monthly, and there is no respondents use more than 5001 on clothes monthly. The figure 8 below shows the result of the money spent on clothes monthly. FIGURE 8. How much do you spend on clothing monthly? (n = 67) The next question dealt with describing your shopping decision. There are more than half 52% of the respondents who chose I usually do shopping spontaneously, but I do have self - control. About 28% of respondents answered they usually have a plan about what they want to buy. 20% of respondents chose that they do not have self - control in their shopping behavior. FIGURE 9. Which of the following describes your shopping decision best? (n = 67) 21

In figure 10, there are 48% of total respondents who prefer traditional way in a big shopping mall, and 42% of all respondents prefer online shopping. There are only 10% prefer traditional way in a small shop. There is no respondents prefer second hand store. FIGURE 10. Which kind of shopping do you prefer? (n = 67) The respondents were asked, Which of the following factors affect to your shopping decision (see figure 11). This question is multiple-choice question with one open choice answer possibility if their reason was not on my list. 36 respondents thought fashion and beauty would affect their shopping decision. The truth seeking got 21 respondents and impulse got 16. There was no respondents for other choices. FIGURE 11. Factors affect shopping decision (n = 67, selected answers = 88) 22

The question about emotions for women buying clothes was also a multiple-choice question. If their choices are not on my list, I have the open option for them. The main emotion is aesthetic emotion, which was chosen by 63% of respondents. 22% of respondents answered extending individuality. 21% of respondents thought color emotion they have when they buy clothes. 9% of respondents were answered nostalgic emotion. There was only one respondent answered option other, she answered suitable. Figure 12 below shows the emotion when women buy clothes. FIGURE 12. When you buy clothes, what kind of emotion you have? (n = 67, selected answers = 84) There are various issues could affect shopping decision. In table 1, I provide 10 parts for the respondents, friends recommendation, product details, pursuit quality of life, enjoy consumption experience, price, quality of the product, advertisement (for example superstars wearing same products), how beautiful the product is, discount free gift. For these issues, there are 5 levels can be selected, 1 means no effect, 2 is a little effect, 3 is medium effect, 4 means much effect and 5 is biggest effect. 23

TABLE 1. Issues affect shopping decision (n = 67). According to the table 1, 34.33% of the respondents thought friends recommendation had medium effect in their shopping decision, 38.8% of all the respondents thought product detail had medium effect. There was 43.28% of respondents chose pursuit quality of life to be medium effect. 40.29% of the respondents put enjoy consumption experience into medium effect. 37.31% of the respondents thought price is medium effect. 35.82% of respondents thought quality of the product had much effect. About half of the respondents (50.75%) thought advertisement have no effect for their shopping decision. There are 34.33% of the respondents chose how beautiful the product is as much effect. 37.31% of all the respondents thought discount had medium effect. And 41.79% of the respondents thought free gift had no effect. According to figure 14, more than half of respondents (51%) like new products, and 30% of respondents like discount products. 18% of total respondents like cheap price products and there is only 1% of respondents like personalized loyalty offers. 24

FIGURE 14. What kind of sale will attract you most? (n = 67) Figure 15 shows how different issues affect women s shopping decision in different age. According to figure 15 all the respondents chose fashion and beauty to be the most important issue that affects shopping behavior. Truth seeking (quality and price of the product) has only small account of differences based by numbers, but for over 45 years respondents, this has the biggest effect. Impulse shopping seems to have the biggest effect to women age from 18 to 34. FIGURE 15. Different age has different shopping behavior (n = 67, selected answers = 88) 25

According to figure 16, youngest female age from 18 to 24 prefer online shopping. For age from 25 to 34 and age over 45 respondents, women preferred traditional way in a big shopping mall, except women age from 35 to 44 thought also that online shopping could be their choice. Traditional way to do shopping in a small shop is a choice only for few people. Second hand store was not anybody s choice. FIGURE 16. Different age has different shopping place (n = 67) Figure 17 shows that all respondents had chosen aesthetic emotion to the most important issue to shopping emotion. Nostalgic emotions seems to be the biggest effect on over 45 years old, 3 respondents from 9 had chosen it. There are nobody age over 45 who have chosen extending individuality, the highest value it seems to have for the youngest female. Same way color emotion has effects only for women age 18-44, here the biggest effect was for 25-34 age women. Figure 17 below shows different age s respondents have different emotion when their buy clothes. 26

FIGURE 17. Different age has different shopping emotion (n = 67, selected answers = 84) 27

6 CONCLUSION The use of emotional marketing in female consumers has greatly increased marketing effectiveness. In the 21 st century, people live in an emotional society, which requires new marketing concepts and models. Emotional marketing concept meets the needs of the new marketing model. In the new economic era, emotional marketing has become an inevitable trend of marketing development. Female consumers are the most active consumer group in today s marketing economy. By analyzing female consumer psychology, psychological characteristics and the results of the survey, it can be stated that the female s psychological and behavior characteristics are diverse. Especially in the modern economic society, their life pressure has increased, their emotional behavior has become more diverse. This makes my research more meaningful. In the questionnaire, I found that different ages have different kind of shopping behavior. Young people would focus more on fashion and beauty when they buy clothes. Ages from 35 to over 45 s people; they thought truth seeking like quality and price of the product, could also affect their shopping decision. When women become older, shopping decision are less affected by impulses. Different age groups prefer different shopping places. The youngest people prefer online shopping. The age group from 25 to 34 and over 45 years people prefer traditional way of shopping in big shopping malls. From the questionnaire results it can be seen that the second hand store is not popular in China, since no one chose it. When people buy clothes, there are different emotions affecting their shopping decision. Whether young people or old people, they all have aesthetic emotion when they buy clothes. As a result, the shop owners should consider the emotional needs of female consumers when they formulate marketing strategies. They should combine emotional needs and image of the brand, this could let women consumers get better services from the shop. Shop owner could also narrow consumers distance from the product to obtain their love for the product. 28

7 DISCUSSION While writing this thesis, I have learnt a lot about emotional marketing. In this thesis, I have interviewed a shop owner Xu. In the interview, she told us top five things about what women care about when they buy clothes and about strategies she has. In my opinion, the strategies for her shop are sufficient for the customers, but there is one thing that she needs to improve. She needs to have an online shop. In my questionnaire result, there is about 42% of respondents who chose online shopping; there is only 10% of respondents who chose traditional way of doing purchases in a small shop. Nowadays, less people would choose shopping traditional way in a small shop, instead they prefer do it traditional way in a big shopping mall and online shopping. Therefore, she really needs an online shop. For online selling, there are some points that could be further researched in the later study. The first point is when people do online shopping they might prefer mobile phones instead of computers. For example, it could be easier for them to use mobile phones in trains or metros while travelling to work. When customers do computer online shopping, they could see the product pictures more clearly. If Xu is planning to start selling online, she should also consider if her online shop is also available for mobile phone, tablet and computer users. User experience should be identical in all devices. Another issue for further study could be return shipping. There are some people who do online shopping, they use the products once or twice, but they return products with no reason. This might cause some loss of money to the shop keeper if she has to pay the shipping costs. So how to solve this problem? This part could also be researched in the future. 29

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APPENDIX 1 Chinese Version 34

35

English Version Hello everyone! I am Zou Liangqi, a fourth year student of Oulu University of Applied Sciences in Finland. I am doing a thesis from EMOTIONAL MARKETING FOR CHINESE FEMALE. I make this survey to get some shopping behavior information from you. All the information is treated in confidence. The survey will take only few minutes. Thank you. 1. What is your age? 18 24 25 34 35 44 Over 45 2. How much is your monthly income? Less than 3000 (375 ) 3001 7000 (375.1 875 ) 7001 10000 (875.1 1250 ) Over 10001 (1250.1 ) 3. How often do you buy clothes? Almost everyday Several times per week Once a week Several times per month Once a month Less than once per month 4. How much do you spend on clothing monthly? Less than 1000 (125 ) 1001 3000 (125.1 375 ) 3001 5000 (375.1 625 ) Over 5001 (625.1 ) 5. Which of following describes your shopping decision best? 36

I usually have a plan what I want to buy. I usually do shopping spontaneously but I do have self control. I don t have self control in my shopping behavior. 6. Which kind of shopping do you prefer? Traditional way in a big shopping mall Traditional way in a small shop Second hand store Online shopping 7. Which of the following factors affect to your shopping decision? (Multiple choice) Fashion and beauty Truth seeking Emotion Comparisons Impulse Be different Group psychology Other 8. When you buy clothes, what kind of emotion you have? (Multiple choice) Nostalgic emotion Extending individuality Aesthetic emotion Color emotion Other 9. In what scale following issues affect you in your shopping decision? (1 no effect, 2 a little effect, 3 medium effect, 4 much effect, 5 biggest effect) 1 2 3 4 5 Friends recommendations Product details Pursuit quality of life 37

Enjoy consumption experience Price Quality of the product Advertisement (for example superstars wearing same product) How beautiful the product is Discount Free gift 10. What kind of sale will attract you most? New product Cheap price Discount product Personalized loyalty offers 38